Melvest le grand



(No Model.)

M. LB GRAND. RAILWAY GAR.

No. 514.196. Patented Feb. 6, 1894. L /765/ @l 1| H rV-ll :L 1| imp 1plV-ll i@ 1| 1| Ao ou oo' o c EnE co m y* oc on v o y@ o on am meNATloNAL uwoeurnma ccmunv.

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'UNITED- STATES PATENT MELVIN LE GRAND,VOF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, SSIGNOROF ONE-HALF TO LEWIS DU BOIS, OF SAME PLACE.

RAILWAY-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 514,196, dated February6, 1894.

Application filed April 3, 1893. Serial No. 468,783. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVIELvINv LE GRAND, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of NewYork, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Cars, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention, while applicable to railway cars generally, is designedmore especially for use -in connection with passenger cars or coaches;and has for its object to provide a means for taking up or relieving theshock imparted to the occupants or freight by the sudden starting andstopping of the car or coach Yor by collision in front or rear.

To this end, the invention consists in the employment with an ordinaryrailway car or coach body, of a floor or platform which is capable oflongitudinal movement therein to a certain extent, and is yieldingly andelastically connected to the same by suitable means, whereby the shockthat would otherwise be communicated to the occupants by the suddenstarting or stopping of the car or coach or by collision in front orrear will be neutralized, all as will hereinafter more fully appear. Y

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification, Figure 1, is a side view of a portion of a railwaypassenger car or coach with my invention applied in connectiontherewith, the side of the car or coach being broken away; Fig. 2, areverse plan view of a portion of the movable floor or platform, showingalso the springs by means of which it is yieldingly and elasticallysecured to the body of the car; Fig. 3, a plan view of a portion of thebottom of the body of a car or coach, showing also the friction rollsupon which the movable floor or, platform is mounted and over which itis adapted to move; Fig. 4, a transverse section of the lower portion ofthe body of a car or coach, taken in the plane oc o@ of Fig. 1, and Fig.5, a transverse section taken in the plane of Ay y of Fig. 3. f

In all the figures, like letters of reference are employed to designatecorresponding parts.

A indicates the body of a railway car or coach which is or may be of anyordinary or preferred construction, and B the wheels upon which it ismounted.

In the drawings'l have shown the wheels for one end only of the car orcoach, but it is to be understood that in practice the other end of thecar or coach will be similarly provided with wheels, and that such caror coach will or may be provided with the usual truck frames, platforms,and other appliances common to such vehicles.

Mounted in the bottom a of the body of a car or coach, in suitablehangers, a', are friction rolls, h, which are preferably arranged inrows transversely of the same, and are free to rotate on their axes asoccasion may require. Resting upon these rolls, is the mov able floor orplatform c, upon which the seats d are arranged. This door or platform,in my preferred form of construction, is made' somewhat shorter than thelength of the body of the car or coach, and extends across from one sidethereof to the other, being held in proper position in such body byrolls, e, which, journaled in suitable hangers secured to the side ofthe body, engage with grooves, f, formed in the edges of the floor orplatform,

and permit of the free longitudinal movementl of such floor or platform,while yet restraining it from all lateral motion.

l Secured to the under side of the door or platform c transversely ofthe same, by bolts or otherwise, is a bar, g, to which is secured oneend of aseries of springs, h, the other end of such springs beingsecured to the bottom a ofthe body of the car or coach by brackets, 11,'

iixedly secured thereto.

In the construction illustrated in the drawings, I have shown but asingle transverse bar g, with the springs extending outwardly therefromin opposite direction whereby to be operative both forward and backward,but it is obvious that I may employ a plurality of these bars, and,instead of arranging the springs on opposite sides thereof, may arrangethe springs of one bar on one side of the same, and the springs ofthe-other bar on the opposite side of that bar; the sole object andpurpose of the springs being to return the -fioor or platform to itscentral normal position when removed therefrom, and permit of 'the samemoving forward or backward IOO on the bottom a, as the case may be,against their tension, as the car or coach is suddenly started orstopped.

The springs shown in the drawings are of the usual coiled form, and thisis the construction of spring I prefer to employ in practice, as agreater range of movement to the iioor or platform is permitted thereby,While opposing thereto a more gradual and powerful resistance, but it isto be understood that any other of the well known forms of springs maybe employed in lieu thereof, it only being essential that the springs orother yielding and elastic medium interposed between the door orplatform and the bottom of the body of the car or coach, whatever theiror its character, shall besuch as to permit of an increasingly resistedmovement being imparted to such iioor or platform to a limited distance,when the body of the car or coach is suddenly started or stopped orcollision takesplace in front or rear, and at the same time iiisuie itsreturn to its normal position when the inertia or momentum possessed byit is overcome.

To provide for the free and easy movement of the iioor or platform cover the rolls b, and at the same time prevent the consequent wear tothe under side of the former by its contact with the latter, I make useof metal plates, k, which are secured to the under side ofthe door orplatform c, by screws or otherwise, and rest upon the tops of the rollsb, as shown; While to prevent injury to persons standing at the ends ofthe caror coach body by the action of the oor or platform as it is movedin one or the other direction forward or back,Iemploy guards, l. Theseguards, of which only one is shown, but which is duplicated at the endof the car or coach that is not shown, consist of metal plates which aremade of a width substan tiallythat of the iioor or platform to the endsof which they are, by screws or bolts m, secured, and of a lengthsomewhat less than the distance between the ends of such iioor orplatform and the ends of the car or coach, whereby to permit of theproper movement of the Iioor or platform in such body, without the endsof the guards coming in contact with the ends of the latter. In theconstruction of these guards, their outer free ends are preferablysharpened down to thin knife edges, and are held in close contact withmetal plates, i", secured to the bottom a of the body of the car orcoach, by screws or bolts, fn, which, passing down through the guardsand the plates r that are provided with slots, o, for their reception,receive upon their lower ends nuts, p. By these means provision is notonly made for holding the outer ends of the guards down close to thebottom of the car or other body, so as to pass under the feet of anoccupant of the car standing at the end thereof, in case of a movementof the iioor or platform c in that direction, but facility of movementof the guard upon and over the bottom of the car aorded, as occasion mayrequire.

In the construction shown in the drawings, the springs 7L are arrangedintermediate the adjoining rolls b, and this is my preferred arrangementof such parts, as facility is thereby afforded for the use of longersprings, which conduces to a more easy and gradual movement of the iiooror platform than when shorter springs are employed; but it is obvi onsthat other arrangement of the springs may be adopted witliont departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

Again, I have shown in the drawings, the rolls c as engaging withgrooves, f, formed in the edges of the floor or platform c, and this isthe arrangement I prefer in practice, as provision is thereby made fornot only holding such fiooror platform from lateral movement, but fromtipping up or overturning, in case the car or coach should be thrownupon its side, but it is manifest that such grooves may be omitted andthe rolls act against the edges of the door or platform, the tipping upor overturning of the floor or platform in that event being prevented byguards secured to the sides of the car and overlapping the edgesthereof.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I provide simple and efficientmeans for taking up and neutralizing, in a measure, the shock incidentto the sudden starting and stopping of the cars, or to collisions infront or in rear, which is not only cheap and simple in construction,and safe and efficient in operation, but which is alike capable of usewith new or old cars without expensive alterations or reorganizations ofthe latter being required.

Having now described my invention and certain of the ways in which itmay be carried into effect, what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The combination, with the body of a railway car or coach, of alongitudinally movable door or platform arranged therein, and means foryieldingly and elastically connecting such door or platform to the body,substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the body of a railway car or coach, of alongitudinally movable floor or platform arranged therein upon which theseats are disposed, and means for yieldingly and elastically connectingsuch Iioor or platform to said body, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the body of a railway car or coach, of alongitudinally movable floor or platform arranged therein and providedwith guards, the free outer ends of which are held in close contact withthe bottom of the body, of means for yieldingly and elasticallyconnecting such floor or platform to such body, substantially asdescribed.

4E. rlhe combination, with the body of a railway car or coach, havingrolls arranged in its bottom, of a longitudinally movable oor or IOC IlO

Y way car 'or coach having rolls arranged in its bottom, of alongitudinally movable iioor or platform carrying the car seats arrangedupon such rolls, and provided with a transversely arranged bar upon itsunder side, of a series of oppositely arranged springs connected at oneend to said bar and at the other to the bottom of the body,substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the body of a railway car or c'oach havingrolls upon its bottom and upon its sides, of a longitudinally movableiioor or platform resting upon the rolls in the bottom of said body,with its edges in contact with the rolls upon the sides thereof, ofmeans for yieldingly and elastically connecting the floor or platform tothe bottom ofthe body, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with the body of a railway car or coach having metalplates in its bottom provided with rows of slots, and a longitudinallymovable door or platform arranged in said body, of guards connected tosaid floor or platform, and bolts extending down through such guardsgandthe slots in the metal plates, substantially as described.

8. The combination, with the body of a railway car or coach, A, havingbottom, a, and friction rolls, b, of the longitudinally movable door orplatform c provided with the bar g, the springs h arranged upon oppositesides of Said bar, and the bracket i, as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of March,1893.

MELVIN LE GRAND.

Witnesses:

LEWIS DU Bols, GEO. SMALLWOOD.

